Method, System, and Apparatus for Validation

ABSTRACT

In a method for validating data, a text of a document is received. At least one fact is extracted from the text. At least one expert refinement is merged with the at least one fact to create at least one modified fact. The at least one modified fact is provided for a review. An expert refinement to the at least one modified fact is captured in response to the review. A superset document based on the at least one pre-existing refinement and the expert refinement is stored.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application relates to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/413,405, entitled, “INFORMATION CODING SYSTEM AND METHOD”, filedApril 15, 2003; co-pending U.S., patent application Ser. No. 10/XX,XXX,entitled, “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR UTILIZING NATURAL LANGUAGE PATIENTRECORDS”, filed on May 29, 2003; co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/XX,XXX, entitled, “METHOD, SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS FOR DATA REUSE”,filed on May 30, 2003; and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/XX,XXX, entitled, “METHOD, SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS FOR VIEWING DATA”,filed on May 30, 2003, all of which co-pending applications are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to validating data from textextracted from a set of records. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to capturing and applying refinements made by a domainexpert to the validity, relevance, and temporal significance of “facts”(extractions of discreet data elements, their location within thedocument, their normalizations, and their ontological classifications)automatically extracted from electronic text.

In the medical field, health care providers (e.g., physicians, medicaltechnicians or administrators) typically dictate diagnoses, medicationsand other patient medical reports in a free form manner. Thesedictations are then transcribed into documents. The transcribeddocuments are typically then submitted to the provider for review andapproval. The transcribed documents will likely contain data that isrelevant to different users at different times. Additionally, manylegacy databases contain documents that include data with varyingdegrees of relevancy.

Automatic extraction of specified data from electronic medical recordshas been known for some time. It is well known in the art thatcomputation algorithms may be employed to process text of an electronicdocument to extract specific data from the document. However, validatingthe relevancy, relevance, classification, and temporal significance ofthe data has not been possible heretofore.

Presently, users are required to manually review extracted data in orderto validate the data. The manual process requires review of the textdocument, a time consuming review process in which the user may edit andapprove the text for ultimate storage in a database where the text maybe reviewed at a later time. Manual operation may include data entryusing drop down menus, mouse pointing clicks, typing and time consumingrecords review. It is therefore desirable to provide users with avalidation process that utilizes automatically extracted, relevant dataitems from free form dictated and transcribed documents.

The significance of facts can change over time. A deficiency in currentsystems that perform extraction is that they do not account for thetemporal significance of the fact. For example, a problem that isrelevant today may he resolved tomorrow, and thus the fact that theproblem exists is true only when the context of the time period (today)is provided.

An additional problem exists relating to nomenclature. There are severalways to describe many different physical ailments. More particularly,users of such systems often use different phrases to describe a singletype of event. For example, one physician may use ‘myocardialinfarction’ while another physician may use ‘heart attack’ to describe aproblem for a patient. In this example, there may be up to 25 phrasesthat describe the same or similar ailment to the heart. As such, asearcher who wishes to find a group of records that involve a particularterm of art would have to know and use of all the variants of thosephrases in order to ensure a complete search. It would be desirable toprovide a grouping of like and similar variants of key medical facts,medical concepts, and present those in a user interface along withextractions of the discrete data elements.

Health care providers are often responsible for maintaining lists ofcurrent problems, medications, allergies, and procedures for patients.Problems in this context can be anything that is relevant to thephysician or affects the care and treatment of the patient. Facts on thecurrent list are significant over a particular time period, after whichthe problem may no longer be relevant to the patient's treatment andcare, or the patient's problem may have been resolved, or the medicationdiscontinued, et cetera.

Manual processes for maintaining these lists often include paper formswherein the provider writes in new items on the list, dates it, andsigns or through dictation wherein the provider dictates the actualinsertions and removals, where these changes are then made by clericalpersonnel at the time the dictated report is transcribed. Automatedprocesses found in electronic medical record systems require data entryof the items on the current list.

The deficiencies inherent in manual processes are numerous. When a paperform is used, only one copy of it is available, whereas when thisinformation is stored electronically, multiple viewers can access theinformation at the same time. It is difficult to locate information onpaper forms or even in electronic documents as these storage mechanismsdo not provide sorting and filtering features that might be availablewhen the information is stored in a database. A further problem is thatwhen the provider dictates changes to the list, there are time lagsintroduced by the transcription and editing process that create a delaybetween the dictation of these changes and the actual implementation ofthese changes on the storage media. This imposes a delay on theavailability of changes to the provider and to the rest of the medicalcommunity providing patient care.

When current lists are maintained in electronic medical record systems,the user must manually enter the information in the list, rather thanhave the system suggest to them changes that might be made to thecurrent list based on extracted facts.

Finally, when current lists are maintained on forms, through dictatedchanges, or even in electronic medical records, the context in which theproblem, medication, allergy, or procedure mentioned for the patient isnot available. Therefore, the only information available to the medicalcommunity is the item on the current list, without more detailed contextthat might provide for better medical care.

Thus, present systems do not have the ability to integrate informationin real time to a current lists report and cannot provide context forthat information. It is desirable to provide a system that presentsdiscrete data elements for approval in real time by a user with theability to determine the context of a report, namely, the creation pointof the report, the creator, the time frame and the relevance of thediscrete element for extraction.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

In light of the above-identified prior art deficiencies, it is an objectof the present invention to provide a system and method to validate afreeform text document for certain facts as true or relevant to a casebefore they are stored in a database and marked as such.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system andmethod by which a user may approve or validate extracted data prior tosending it to the database for a subsequent retrieval and viewinginquiry.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a systemand method for validating extracted data applicable to third partysystems, such as a hospital information system or an EMR.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system andmethod for validating extracted data and maintaining a current list.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system andmethod for validating extracted data and maintaining a current listindexed and searchable by multiple degrees, namely, to determine thestatus of a record as of a specified date.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system andmethod for validating extracted data where a user may review specificextracted data elements to further refine the extracted information.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system andmethod for validating extracted data and maintaining a current list bycarrying forward the information pre-determined as relevant or trueuntil a user specified change.

It is another object of the present invention to capture informationabout the time that a fact was observed or reported upon, and/or thetime that a counter-example to the fact was observed or reported upon,in order to maintain information about the temporal significance of saidfact.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An advantage exists in the present invention, which facilitates thedetermination of validity, relevance, classification, and temporalsignificance of facts, automatically extracted from electronic text forcapturing and applying refinements made by a domain expert.

In a first aspect, the present invention includes a method of reviewingdata. The method includes receiving the text of a document and at leastone fact, capturing an expert refinement to the at least one fact inresponse to the review, and storing a superset document based on the atleast one pre-existing fact and the expert refinement. The method mayalso include the at least one fact from the text being subsequentlymerged with a previously stored expert refinement to produce at leastone modified fact and the capturing of expert refinements is applied tomodified facts. The receiving of the text of the document may alsoinclude receiving the document by one of electronic mail, file transportprotocol, and a network file transfer protocol. The providing of thereview document for the review may also include providing a graphicaluser interface adapted to display the at least one modified fact andhighlighting a selected fact displayed on the graphical user interface.The method may also include displaying at least one category of facts,the selected fact being a member of the at least one category of facts,displaying a related details category for the selected fact, anddisplaying the selected text and surrounding text (i.e., the context) ofthe selected fact in the graphical user interface. The method may alsoinclude displaying a relevancy indicator for each fact in the at leastone category of facts. The method may also include displaying atruthfulness indicator for each fact in the at least one category offacts. The method may also include providing the at least one modifiedfact and the text to a domain expert and determining the expertrefinement based on a review of the at least one modified fact and theat least one expert refinement by the domain expert. The method may alsoinclude storing the expert refinement as an expert refinement file,collecting a set of related documents based on an index, extracting theat least one fact based on the set of related documents, and providingthe at least one fact to a domain expert. The related documents may beof similar date, topic or clustered by similar content using any numberof document clustering and classification algorithms well known to thosepracticed in the art (e.g., K-nearest neighbor algorithm, or cosinesimilarity metric). The method may also include determining a set ofnormalized facts based on the at least one fact, for example, byclassifying facts to a taxonomy such as SNOMED or to the ICD-9-CM, orCPT, or other such taxonomy, not necessarily limited to the medicaldomain. The method may also include providing the set of normalizedfacts with the at least one modified fact for the review, anddetermining a temporal significance for the at least one modified fact,for example by recording the date the fact was observed based onmetadata included with the medical record. The method may also includedetermining a relevancy factor for the at least one modified fact andproviding the relevancy factor with the at least one modified fact forthe review.

In a second aspect, the present invention includes a system forvalidation. The system includes an extraction module configured toextract a set of facts from a captured electronic document, a storagedevice configured to interface with the extraction module and thevalidation module, and a validation module configured to provide agraphical user interface to validate the facts, wherein the validationmodule is configured to receive a set of facts from the extractionmodule, apply a set of expert facts retrieved from storage device to theset of facts to create a set of modified facts, and provide the set ofmodified facts to an author for review. The validation module may befurther configured to determine a set of normalized facts for the set offacts. The validation module may be further configured to determine atemporal significance for the set of facts. The validation module may befurther configured to determine a relevancy factor for the set of facts.The validation module may be further configured to provide at least oneof a set of normalized facts, a temporal significance, and a relevancyfactor with the set of facts to a domain expert. The validation modulemay be further configured to capture modifications to the set of factsas the set of expert facts based on a review of the at least one of theset of normalized facts, the temporal significance, and relevancy factorwith the set of facts by the domain expert. The validation module may befurther configured to store the set of expert facts.

The above advantages and features are of representative embodimentsonly, and are presented only to assist in understanding the invention.It should be understood that they are not to be considered limitationson the invention as defined by the claims, or limitations on equivalentsto the claims. Additional features and advantages of the invention willbecome apparent from the drawings, the following description, and theclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing outand distinctly claiming the present invention, it is believed the samewill be better understood from the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, in anon-limiting fashion, the best mode presently contemplated for carryingout the present invention, and in which like reference numeralsdesignate like parts throughout the figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture of a validation clientmodule in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram for the validation clientmodule in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

PIG. 3 illustrates a natural language patient record (NLPR) systemutilizing the validation client module shown in FIG. 1 in accordancewith yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a validation viewer GUI provided by the validationclient module in accordance with yet another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the target viewer component in greater detail inaccordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A illustrates an expanded view of a current list included in thetarget viewer component in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a more detailed view of the record viewer componentin accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a more detailed view of the extractions viewercomponent in accordance with yet another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a more detailed flow diagram for validatingextractions for the validation viewer GUI (shown in FIGS. 4-7) inaccordance with yet another embodiment;

FIG. 9 illustrates a more detailed flow diagram for validatingextractions for the validation viewer GUI (shown in FIGS. 4-7) inaccordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a computer systemwhere an embodiment of the present invention may be practiced.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TIME EMBODIMENTS

For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the presentinvention are described by referring mainly to exemplary embodimentsthereof. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would readilyrecognize that the same principles are equally applicable to, and can beimplemented in, all types of network systems, and that any suchvariations do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the presentinvention. Moreover, in the following detailed description, referencesare made to the accompanying figures, which illustrate specificembodiment Electrical, mechanical, logical and structural changes may bemade to the embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore,not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of the presentinvention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Embodiments relate to validating data extracted from a document. In oneembodiment, a host application instantiates a validation client moduleand forwards a document to the validation client module. The validationclient module is configured to capture a document. The document may bein an electronic format such as commercial word processing file, ASCII,mark-up language, or other similar format. The validation client moduleis also configured to extract a set of discrete data elements (e.g.,facts, keywords, or other similar data) from the captured electronictext. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the presentinvention can be applied to freeform dictated documents as well as toany electronic text, free narrative or otherwise.

More particularly, the validation module may use parsing engines toparse for relevant facts within the captured electronic text. Thevalidation client module may be further configured to merge a previouslydetermined set of validated facts to the extracted set of facts as apreliminary set of facts. The validation client module may be furtherconfigured to normalize the extracted facts, determine the temporalsignificance for the preliminary set of facts, and/or to determine therelevance of the modified set of facts as preliminary metadata. Thevalidation client module may record the time that a fact or itscounter-example was observed or reported upon in order to determine thetemporal significance of said fact.

The validation client module may be further configured to provide thepreliminary metadata, the preliminary set of facts, and the text of thedocument to a domain expert for review. The validation client module maythen receive expert refinements, i.e., changes, based on a review of thepreliminary metadata, the preliminary set of facts, and the text of thedocument. The validation client module may then be configured to storethe changes to the preliminary metadata and set of facts as expertrefinements. The expert refinements are associated with the document andreturned to the host application. In one embodiment, the validationclient module may be configured to maintain a delta file that capturesthe changes that occurred during the review of the preliminary metadataand the preliminary set of facts. The validation client module may befurther configured to maintain and permanently store the delta files foreach document. In another embodiment, the validation client module maybe configured to provide preliminary metadata and the preliminary set offacts on a set of related documents. The set of related documents may berelated chronologically, subject, or other similar indexing key. Thevalidation client module then accepts expert refinements based on thereview of the domain expert for the set of related documents.

Accordingly, the validation client module may provide a mechanism for auser to quickly evaluate and validate facts from a document. Byassociating the validated facts with a document, the search capabilityfor the document may be increased. More specifically, the validatedfacts may become search terms for the document and thus increase theprecision of the search.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture of a validation clientmodule 100 in accordance with an embodiment. It should be readilyapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the exemplaryarchitecture depicted in FIG. 1 represents a generalized schematicillustration and that other elements may be added or existing elementsmay be removed or modified.

As shown in FIG. 1, the validation client module 100 includes avalidation module 110, an input/output (I/O) module 120 (labeled as ‘I/Omodule’ in FIG. 1), an extraction module 130, and a storage interfacemodule 140. The validation module 110 may be configured to provide thefunctionality for the validation client module 100. For example, thevalidation module 110 may invoke the I/O module 120 to provide for avalidation graphical user interface (GUI) in response to initiating thevalidation client module 100. As another example, the validation module110 may invoke the extraction module 130 to extract at least one factfrom a selected document. As yet another example, the validation module110 may merge extracted facts with a set of facts extracted from aprevious version and/or group of documents. The validation module 110may also determine similar terms for a selected fact, i.e., normalizethe selected fact.

The I/O module 120 may be configured to provide a mechanism for a userto communicate with the validation client module 100. For example, theI/O module 120 may be invoked to provide a GUI for a domain expert toreview extracted facts. The 110 module 120 may also provide another GUIto receive revisions to extracted facts.

The extraction module 130 may be configured to extract facts from aselected document when invoked by the validation module 110. Theextraction module 130 may be implemented by conventional extractionsoftware (e.g., those implemented by applying a collection of regularexpressions to a document). The extraction module 130 may return theextracted facts to the validation module 110.

The storage interface module 140 may be configured to provide access tostorage devices by the validation module 110. The storage interfacemodule 140 may retrieve and store previous validated facts for adocument (or group of documents), normalization data for facts,categorization data for facts, versions of the validated facts for aselected document, etc., for the validation module 110. The storageinterface module 140 may be implemented as a physical drive interface(e.g., IDE, SCSI, IEEE1394, etc.), a device driver library or othersimilar interfacing technique.

Accordingly, the validation client module 100 may he adapted to heinvoked by a host application. The validation client module 100 may beconfigured to receive a document or a pointer to the document from thehost application. The validation module 110 may be configured to invokethe extraction module 130 to extract facts from the document. Theextraction module 130 may be configured to return the extracted facts,to the validation module 110.

The validation module 110 may he configured to retrieve previous expertrefinements, if any, through the storage interface module 140. Thevalidation module 110 combines the current facts with any previousexpert refinements to create a preliminary set of facts. The validationmodule 110 may then invoke the 110 module to provide for a graphicaluser interface (GUT) that displays the preliminary set of facts, thetext of the current document and the preliminary metadata. Thevalidation module 110 may be further configured to capture any changesimplemented by a domain expert, i.e., a user with proper authority, onthe GUI, as an expert refinement file. The validation module 110 may befurther configured to maintain delta file of the changes made by thedomain expert.

The validation module 110 is configured to associate the expertrefinement file with the document and return the files (by copy or link)to the host application. The validation module 110 may he furtherconfigured to store the expert refinement file and delta file by passingthe files to the storage interface module 140. Accordingly, thevalidation module 110 may retrieve the expert refinement file to performvalidation on new versions of the document.

It should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that theindividual functions, as described above and in further details below,embodied by the respective I/O module 120, extraction module 130, andstorage interface module 140 may be performed by the validation module110. Conversely, the individual functions, as described above and infurther details below, of the validation module 110 may be moved to theI/O module 120, extraction module 130, and storage interface module 140.

The validation client module 100 may be implemented as a softwareprogram, a utility, a subroutine, or other similar programming entity.In this respect, the validation client module 100 may be implementedusing software languages such as C, C++, JAVA, etc. Alternatively, thevalidation client module 100 may be implemented as an electronic deviceutilizing an application-specific integrated circuit, discretecomponents, solid-state components or a combination thereof.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram 200 for the validationclient module 100 in accordance with another embodiment. It should bereadily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that this method200 represents a generalized illustration and that other steps may beadded or existing steps may be removed or modified.

As shown in FIG. 2, the validation client module 100 may be invoked by ahost application (not shown), in step 205. For example, the hostapplication may receive activation of a menu item that represents thevalidation client module 100, perform a function call to the validationclient module 100, or a user may execute a command line to instantiatethe validation client module 100. Alternatively, the validation clientmodule 100 may be a standalone application program.

In step 210, the validation module 110 may invoke the extraction module130 to extract facts from a selected document. The document or a pointerto the document may have passed to the validation module 110 when thevalidation client 100 was invoked. The extraction module 130 may utilizea conventional extraction module to extract the facts (or keywords,concepts, etc.) from the selected document. The extraction module 130may be configured to return the extracted facts to the validation module110.

In step 215, the validation module 110 may invoke the i./0 module 120 toprovide a validation viewer GUI (not shown). The validation viewer mayprovide a mechanism to review the extracted facts along with access toprevious validated facts. The validation viewer GUI may comprise atarget viewer component, a record viewer component, and an extractionviewer component. The target viewer component may present the extractedfacts into target groups (e.g., Problems, Medications, Allergies). Theextraction viewer GUI presents an extracted fact in the context of asingle line of the report. This enables an authorized user to quicklydetermine whether or not the selected fact is valid. The record viewerdisplays the location of a selected fact within the document in responseto the fact being selected.

In step 220, the I/O module 120 may detect a change in the facts on thevalidation viewer GUI. If the change to the fact is validation of anextracted fact, the change is updated to the list of validated facts instep 225. Otherwise, if the I/O module 120 does not detect a change inthe facts, the validation module would proceed to step 235.

In step 230, the validation module 110 may determine whether there is achange to the facts. For example, a user may add a fact by ‘swiping’ aportion of the text of the document, i.e., highlighting the selectedfact. If the validation module 110 determines that there has been achange to the extracted facts, the validation module 110 may determinewhether or not a new extraction is needed in step 240.

If the validation module 110 determines that a new extraction is needed,the validation module 110 may be configured to call the extractionmodule 130 to receive the extracted facts to perform the processing instep 230. Otherwise, the validation module 110 may validate theextracted facts, in step 245.

Returning to step 235, if the validation module 110 determines thatthere is no change to the extracted facts, the validation module 110 maydetermine whether or not a change to a current list.

If the validation module 110 determines a change in the current list,the validation module 110 may be configured to update the current listwith the latest change in step 255.

Otherwise, in step 260, the validation module 110 may determine whetheror not to save the changes implemented by the user. If the validationmodule 110 determines that data is to be saved, the validation module110 may create a revision file, which is passed onto to a storage devicethrough the storage interface module 140. The revision file may becomprised of the original document, facts made by the software, andchanges to the validation status of those facts, changes to the currentlist, and/or changes made to the temporal status of a fact made duringthe validation steps described above. The revision file may be used toupdate later facts. Otherwise, if the validation module 110 determinesnot to save the changes, the validation module 110 may determine whetheror not the user has completed the validation process in step 270. If theuser has not completed the validation process, the validation module 110may return to the processing of step 220. Otherwise, the validationmodule may invoke the I/O module 120 to close the validation viewer GUI,in step 275.

FIG. 3 illustrates a natural language patient record (NLPR) system 300utilizing a validation client module in accordance with yet anotherembodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the NLPR system 300 includes a pluralityof workstations 305 interconnected by a network 310. The NLPR system 300also includes a server 315 executing a computer readable version 32(3 ofthe NLPR system and data storage 325. The NLPR system 300 is a systemfor maintaining electronic medical records of patients, which isdescribed in greater detail in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/XX,XXX, entitled, “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR UTILIZING NATURALLANGUAGE PATIENT RECORDS,” filed May 29, 2003, which has beenincorporated by reference in its entirety.

The workstations 305 may be personal computers, laptops, or othersimilar computing element. The workstations 305 execute a physicianworkstation (PWS) client 330 from the NLPR system 300. The PWS client325 provides the capability for a physician to dictate, review, and/oredit medical records in the NLPR system 300. While FIG. 3 is describedin the realm of the medical field, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that the present invention can be applied to otherfields of endeavor where users dictate, review and edit records in anydomain.

The workstations 305 also execute a transcriptionist client 335 for atranscriptionist to access and convert audio files into electronic text.The NLPR system 300 may also use speech recognition engines toautomatically convert dictations from dictators into electronic text.

The network 310 is configured to provide a communication channel betweenthe workstations 305 and the server 315. The network 310 may be a widearea network, local area network or combination thereof. The network 310may implement wired protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, X.25, IEEE802.3, IEEE802.5,etc.), wireless protocols (e.g., IEEE802.11, CDPD, etc.) or combinationthereof.

The server 315 may be a computing device capable of providing servicesto the workstations 305. The server 315 may be implemented using anycommonly known computing platform. The server 315 is configured toexecute a computer readable version of the NLPR software 320. The NLPRsoftware provides functionality for the NLPR system 300. The NLPR system300 may receive audio files and/or documents by other network accessmeans such as electronic mail, file transfer protocols, and othernetwork transferring protocols,

The data storage 325 may be configured to interface with network 310 andprovide storage services to the workstations 305 and the server 315. Thedata storage 325 may also be configured to store a variety of files suchas audio, documents, and/or templates. In some embodiments, the datastorage 325 includes a file manager (not shown) that provide services tomanage and access the files stored therein. The data storage 325 may beimplemented as a network-attached storage or through an interfacethrough the server 315.

The server 315 may be further configured to interface with an embodimentof the validation client module 100. A user may invoke the validationclient module 100 by through a PWS client 320. For example, thevalidation client module 100 may be a menu item on a graphical userinterface of the PWS client 320. Alternatively, a user may use a commandline prompt at the PWS client 320 to invoke the validation client module100. Once invoked, the validation client module 100 may display avalidation viewer GUI as shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 illustrates a validation viewer GUI 400 provided by thevalidation client module 100 in accordance with yet another embodiment.It should be readily apparent that the elements of the validation viewerGUI 400 may be deleted and/or modified and new elements added.

As shown in FIG. 4, the validation viewer GUI 400 includes a targetviewer component 410, a record viewer component 420, and an extractionviewer 430 as generated by the I/O module 120. The target viewercomponent 410 may be configured to allow editing of validationattributes for each extracted fact (or keyword, concept, term, etc.)through checkboxes and current list icons. Selecting an icon on thetarget viewer component 410 highlights the associated fact and itscorresponding extractions in the extractions viewer 430.

FIG. 5 illustrates the target viewer component 410 in greater detail inaccordance with yet another embodiment. It should be readily apparentthat the elements of the target viewer component 410 may be deletedand/or modified and new elements added.

As shown in FIG. 5, the target viewer component 410 may include acontrol bar 502 that includes a ‘Finish’ button 504, a ‘Save’ button506, and an ‘Exit’ button 508. The Finish button 504 may be configuredto save the domain expert's changes to a database, mark the revision ofthe document as being finished in the database, and close the validationviewer GUI 400, returning the document and its facts to the hostapplication. The Save button 506 may be configured to save the currentstate of the validation viewer GUI 400 in a database for latercompletion by the user. The Exit button 508 may be configured to providethe user with the options of exiting the validation viewer GUI 400without saving or exiting the validation viewer GUI 400 and saving. Theoptions may be presented in a dialog box by the I/O module 120.

When the user is finished validating the facts the set of facts thathave been deleted, added, modified, and validated are sent to thedatabase through the storage interface module 140.

The target viewer component 410 may present the facts in target groups(e.g., as shown in FIG. 5: Problems 510, Medications 512, Allergies 514,Procedures 516, and History 518). Under each target group, theassociated facts are displayed. A relevancy checkbox 520 is associatedwith each fact. If activated, a selected relevancy checkbox 520 mayindicate that the associated fact is material to the selected document(or report). The I/O module 120 may also place a status change marker522 to indicate that the relevancy of the associated fact has changedfrom a previous report.

The target viewer component 410 also includes a current list icon foreach associated fact, as shown in an expanded view in FIG. 5A. Thecurrent list icon 524 may be configured to indicate the status of thefact on the current list. By activating the associated current list icon524 for a selected fact, a user may elect to make the fact Active,Inactive or view the current list.

Returning to FIG. 4, the record viewer component 420 may be configuredto display the current document (or record) while the extraction andtarget viewer components, 430 and 410, respectively, display theextractions and facts for the selected document.

FIG. 6 illustrates a more detailed view of the record viewer component420 in accordance with yet another embodiment. It should be readilyapparent that the elements of the record viewer component 420 may bedeleted and/or modified and new elements added.

As shown in FIG. 6, the record viewer component 420 may include mentionbuttons, previous 602 and next 604. The mention buttons, 602 and 604,may be configured to activate when a selected fact in the target viewercomponent 410 has multiple mentions in the current report. The contextand spans of texts associated with the selected extraction may also bedisplayed in the extraction viewer 430. Otherwise, if a selected facthas a single mention, the mention buttons, 602 and 504, may be ‘ghosted’or deactivated.

When activated, the mention buttons, 602 and 604, may be configured tonavigate the report by highlighting the occurrences of the selectedfact. Simultaneously, the context for the highlight occurrences willalso highlight in the extraction viewer 430.

In the record viewer component 420, a user may add extractions. Moreparticularly, the user may select a whole word(s) within the samesentence. The validation module 110 may be configured not to permit theuser to select text in the headings. After selection of text, a user mayright-click on the selected text to provide options to send the selectedtext to as an extraction. For example, the I/O module 120 may display adialog box that lists the target groups (e.g., Add Problem, AddMedication, Add Procedure, Add Allergy) in the target viewer component.

Returning to FIG. 4, the extraction viewer component 430 may beconfigured to display the detailed extractions from a highlighted factin the target viewer component 410. The extraction viewer component 430may also be configured to simultaneously highlight selected text in theextraction viewer component 430 and the corresponding text in the recordviewer component 420.

FIG. 7 illustrates a more detailed view of the extractions viewercomponent 430 in accordance with yet another embodiment. It should bereadily apparent that the elements of the extractions viewer component430 may be deleted and/or modified and new elements added.

As shown in FIG. 7, the extractions viewer component 430 may display anextraction 702 in one of three states: new, correct or incorrect. A newextraction is one generated by the extraction module 130 that has notyet been validated in any document version. A correct (or validated)extraction has been checked and approved by a user with the appropriateauthority to approve the extraction. An incorrect (or deprecated)extraction is one that the user with proper authority has deemed asincorrect.

Associated with each extraction is a status checkbox 704. If a user hasplaced a check in the checkbox 702, this indicates that the status ofthe extraction is valid. If a user has placed an ‘X’ mark in thecheckbox 702, this indicates an incorrect or depreciated status for theselected extraction. The checkbox 702 for a new extraction may bedefaulted to a state that configured by the user. The extraction viewercomponent 430 may toggle between a check and ‘X’ mark in the checkbox702.

A specific mention can be displayed in context for specific extraction.The span of the text displayed can be any number of characters asdesired by the user however it is preferable to display a limited numberof characters in width (e.g., 100) so as to limit the context tosomething easily understood by the user, while achieving and appropriateaspect ratio of leading context to following context based on thecharacteristics of the language of the text (e.g., 2:1 for English). Theactual specific extraction may be distinguished from the surroundingcontext via font effects. Whole words or partial words may be displayed.When a user selects a particular mention or any part of the mention wordstring, the line may become highlighted and the corresponding mentionmay be displayed in the record viewer component 430.

FIG. 8 illustrates a more detailed flow diagram 800 for validating factsfor the validation viewer GUI 400 (shown in FIGS. 4-7) in accordancewith yet another embodiment. It should be readily apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art that this flow diagram 800 represents ageneralized illustration and that other steps may be added or existingsteps may be removed or modified.

As shown in FIG. 8, a user with proper authority, e.g., a domain expert,may instantiate the process of validating a fact by selecting the fact(e.g., 530 on FIG. 5), in step 805 in step 810, the validation module110 may determine whether the selected fact has the correct relevance bythe action of the user. More specifically, if the user indicates in therelevancy checkbox 520 that the selected fact is not relevant, the usermay activate the status marker icon 522 in step 815. Otherwise, thevalidation module 110 may proceed to the processing of step 835, whichis described below.

In step 820, the validation module 110 may determine whether theselected fact was relevant by waiting for a user selection on the statusmarker icon 522. More particularly, if validation module receivesindication from the user that the selected fact is relevant, the usermay select the inactive status to make the fact not relevant, in step825. Subsequently, the validation module 110 proceeds to the processingof step 835.

Otherwise, if the selected fact was deemed relevant, the user may selectthe Active status to make the fact relevant, in step 830. Subsequently,the validation module 110 may determine whether the user has selectedadditional facts for validation, in step 835. If the user selectsanother fact, the validation module 110 returns to the processing ofstep 815. Otherwise, the validation module 110 waits for an exit event,in step 840.

FIG. 9 illustrates a more detailed flow diagram 900 for validatingextractions for the extraction viewer component 430 of the validationviewer GUI 400 (shown in FIGS. 4-7) in accordance with yet anotherembodiment. It should be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill inthe art that this flow diagram 900 represents a generalized illustrationand that other steps may be added or existing steps may be removed ormodified.

As shown in FIG. 9, a user with proper authority, e.g., a domain expert,may instantiate the process of validating an extraction by selecting theextraction (e.g., 702 on FIG. 7), in step 905

In step 910, the validation module 110 waits for an indication from theuser on whether the selected extraction is correct. If the selectedextraction is correct, the validation module 110 proceeds to theprocessing of step 960, as described in greater detail below. Otherwise,if the user indicates that the selected extraction is incorrect, theuser may activate (or click) on associated status checkbox 704 (shown inFIG. 7), in step 915. In step 920, the validation module 110 may waitfor an indication from the user that the extraction was correct. If theselected extraction was incorrect, the user may change the status of theselected extraction as incorrect by toggling the associated statuscheckbox 704, in step 925. In step 930, the system may not requireadditional user feedback. If the system determines that all theextractions have been marked as incorrect, the may automatically markthe associated fact as incorrect. Alternatively, the validation module110 may wait for an indication from the user on whether or not all thefact extractions were incorrect. If the all the fact extractions werenot incorrect, the validation module 110 may proceed to the processingof step 960. Otherwise, if all the fact extractions are incorrect, thesystem may mark the associated fact as incorrect by marking the statusto Incorrect in check box 704. Subsequently, the validation module mayproceed to the processing of step 960.

Returning to step 920, if the user determines that the extraction wascorrect, the user may toggle the associated status checkbox 704 ascorrect, in step 945. The validation module 110 then waits for anindication from the user on whether or not the fact was incorrect instep 950. The user may correct the fact in step 955. Subsequently, thevalidation module 110 proceeds to the processing of step 960.

Otherwise, if the user determines that the fact was correct, thevalidation module 110 may wait for an indication from the user onwhether or not to select additional extractions, in step 960. If thereare additional extractions, the validation module 110 returns to theprocessing of step 905. Otherwise, the validation module 110 waits foran exit event, in step 965.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a computer system 1000where an embodiment may be practiced. The functions of the validationclient module 100 may be implemented in program code and executed by thecomputer system 1000. The validation client module 100 and the NLPRsystem 300 may be implemented in computer languages such as PASCAL, C,C++, JAVA, etc.

As shown in FIG. 10, the computer system 1000 includes one or moreprocessors, such as processor 1002, that provide an execution platformfor embodiments of the expressway routing module. Commands and data fromthe processor 1002 are communicated over a communication bus 1004. Thecomputer system 1000 also includes a main memory 1006, such as a RandomAccess Memory (RAM), where the software for the validation client module100 may be executed during runtime, and a secondary memory 1008. Thesecondary memory 1008 includes, for example, a hard disk drive 1020and/or a removable storage drive 1022, representing a floppy diskettedrive, a magnetic tape drive, a compact disk drive, or other removableand recordable media, where a copy of a computer program embodiment forthe validation client module may be stored. The removable storage drive1022 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit 1024 in awell-known manner. A user interfaces with the validation client module100 with a keyboard 1026, a mouse 1028, and a display 1020. The displayadaptor 1022 interfaces with the communication bus 1004 and the display1020 and receives display data from the processor 1002 and converts thedisplay data into display commands for the display 1020.

Certain embodiments may be performed as a computer program. The computerprogram may exist in a variety of forms both active and inactive. Forexample, the computer program can exist as software program(s) comprisedof program instructions in source code, object code, executable code orother formats; firmware program(s); or other known program. Any of theabove can be embodied on a computer readable medium, which includestorage devices and signals, in compressed or uncompressed form.Exemplary computer readable storage devices include conventionalcomputer system RAM (random access memory), ROM (read-only memory),EPROM (erasable, programmable ROM), EEPROM (electrically erasable,programmable ROM), and magnetic or optical disks or tapes. Exemplarycomputer readable signals, whether modulated using a carrier or not, aresignals that a computer system hosting or running the present inventioncan be configured to access, including signals arriving from theInternet or other networks. Concrete examples of the foregoing includedistribution of executable software program(s) of the computer programon a CD-ROM or via Internet download. In a sense, the Internet itself,as an abstract entity, is a computer readable medium. The same is trueof computer networks in general.

While the invention has been described with reference to the exemplaryembodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be able to makevarious modifications to the described embodiments without departingfrom the true spirit and scope. The terms and descriptions used hereinare set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant aslimitations. In particular, although the method has been described byexamples, the steps of the method may be performed in a different orderthan illustrated or simultaneously. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that these and other variations are possible within the spiritand scope as defined in the following claims and their equivalents.

1-28. (canceled)
 29. A method comprising: extracting from an electronictext document, using at least one processor, at least a first medicalfact of a patient, the electronic text document containing text that isa transcription of a clinician's dictations regarding an encounterbetween the clinician and the patient; extracting from the electronictext document, using the at least one processor, a time associated withthe first medical fact; determining a temporal significance of the firstmedical fact, based at least in part on the time that was extracted fromthe electronic text document and is associated with the first medicalfact; storing the first medical fact in a record in a memory accessibleby the at least one processor; and indicating the temporal significanceof the first medical fact in the record.
 30. The method of claim 29,wherein: the record includes a previous medical fact and a timeassociated with the previous medical fact, and the determiningdetermines a temporal significance of the previous medical fact based onthe first medical fact, the time associated with the previous medicalfact, and the time associated with the first medical fact.
 31. Themethod of claim 30, wherein the method further comprises: updating arelevance of the previous medical fact stored in the record, if thefirst medical fact is a counter-example of the previous medical fact.32. The method of claim 30, further comprising: providing a graphicaluser interface to enable a user to view the electronic text document andthe record, and to input refinement information, wherein the refinementinformation includes any one or any combination of: a validity of thefirst medical fact, a relevance of the first medical fact, amodification to the first medical fact, a validity of a previous medicalfact stored in the record, a relevance of the previous medical fact, anda modification to the previous medical fact.
 33. The method of claim 32,further comprising: storing the refinement information in a refinementrecord in the memory, the refinement record being stored in the memoryin association with the record.
 34. The method of claim 32, wherein thegraphical user interface enables the user to indicate text in theelectronic text document to be extracted, and wherein the method furthercomprises: extracting a second medical fact, corresponding to theindicated text, and a time associated with the second medical fact, andstoring the second medical fact and the time associated with the secondmedical fact in the record.
 35. An apparatus comprising: at least oneprocessor; and a memory accessible by the at least one processor,wherein the processor is programmed to perform a method comprising:extracting from an electronic text document at least a first medicalfact of a patient, the electronic text document containing text that isa transcription of a clinician's dictations regarding an encounterbetween the clinician and the patient, extracting from the electronictext document a time associated with the first medical fact, determininga temporal significance of the first medical fact, based at least inpart on the time that was extracted from the electronic text documentand is associated with the first medical fact, causing the first medicalfact to be stored in a record in a memory accessible by the at least oneprocessor, and indicating the temporal significance of the first medicalfact in the record.
 36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein: the recordincludes a previous medical fact and a time associated with the previousmedical fact, and the determining determines a temporal significance ofthe previous medical fact based on the first medical fact, the timeassociated with the previous medical fact, and the time associated withthe first medical fact.
 37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein themethod further comprises: updating a relevance of the previous medicalfact stored in the record, if the first medical fact is acounter-example of the previous medical fact.
 38. The apparatus of claim35, further comprising a display, wherein the method further comprisesproviding a graphical user interface to the display to enable a user toview the electronic text document and the record, and to inputrefinement information, and wherein the refinement information includesany one or any combination of: a validity of the first medical fact, arelevance of the first medical fact, a modification to the first medicalfact, a validity of a previous medical fact stored in the record, arelevance of the previous medical fact, and a modification to theprevious medical fact.
 39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the methodfurther comprises: storing the refinement information in a refinementrecord in the memory, the refinement record being stored in the memoryin association with the record.
 40. The apparatus of claim 38, whereinthe graphical user interface enables the user to indicate text in theelectronic text document to be extracted, and wherein the method furthercomprises: extracting a second medical fact, corresponding to theindicated text, and a time associated with the second medical fact, andstoring the second medical fact and the time associated with the secondmedical fact in the record.
 41. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium storing a program that, when executed by a computer,causes the computer to perform a method comprising: extracting from anelectronic text document at least a first medical fact of a patient, theelectronic text document containing text that is a transcription of aclinician's dictations regarding an encounter between the clinician andthe patient; extracting from the electronic text document a timeassociated with the first medical fact; determining a temporalsignificance of the first medical fact, based at least in part on thetime that was extracted from the electronic text document and isassociated with the first medical fact; causing the first medical factto be stored in a record in a memory accessible by the computer; andindicating the temporal significance of the first medical fact in therecord.
 42. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim41, wherein: the record includes a previous medical fact and a timeassociated with the previous medical fact, and the determiningdetermines a temporal significance of the previous medical fact based onthe first medical fact, the time associated with the previous medicalfact, and the time associated with the first medical fact.
 43. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 42, wherein themethod further comprises: updating a relevance of the previous medicalfact stored in the record, if the first medical fact is acounter-example of the previous medical fact.
 44. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 41, wherein the method furthercomprises: providing a graphical user interface to a display to enable auser to view the electronic text document and the record, and to inputrefinement information, and wherein the refinement information includesany one or any combination of: a validity of the first medical fact, arelevance of the first medical fact, a modification to the first medicalfact, a validity of a previous medical fact stored in the record, arelevance of the previous medical fact, and a modification to theprevious medical fact.
 45. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 44, wherein the method further comprises: storing therefinement information in a refinement record in the memory, therefinement record being stored in the memory in association with therecord.
 46. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim44, wherein the graphical user interface enables the user to indicatetext in the electronic text document to be extracted, and wherein themethod further comprises: extracting a second medical fact,corresponding to the indicated text, and a time associated with thesecond medical fact, and storing the second medical fact and the timeassociated with the second medical fact in the record.